Compared to an open backyard, barbecuing accidents have greater implications in an apartment block. Before buying a whiz-bang new gas BBQ for your balcony, check the by-laws for your complex and/or the owners' corporation (previously called the body corporate) to see if there are any restrictions on using a gas BBQ on your balcony.

For safety reasons, gas barbecues must always be used in very well ventilated space. Barbecuing in an enclosed balcony is not advisable – even those with louvres, café blinds, or a significant amount of privacy screening could be a very risky venture.

The entire assembly, including the trolley if supplied but not the gas bottle. Weights are only supplied for the small barbecues as these are more likely to be moved around or carried in a car for picnics.

This is based on using the barbecue three times a week for 30 minutes over five years (you should expect your barbecue to last at least that long), at an average cost of $4.22/kg of LPG gas (or 28c/kWh for electric models). The cost of gas is an average of what we paid for 9kg gas bottle refills during our test. A barbecue is generally cheaper to run on natural gas.

We cook steak with the hood up, turning them once only. This is to check how evenly the hotplate reaches and maintains a high temperature. However if the manufacturer recommends the hood be closed for all cooking (as for the Weber Qs), then we follow the manufacturers' instructions.

A combination of cooking (40%), mobility (20%), using the controls (20%) and cleaning (20%).

We look for easy access when moving and turning the food, and note any discomfort such as smoke blowing into the face. We also look at moving and cleaning the barbecue, how easy the controls are to use and how easily the gas bottle can be fitted.